Hetalia: what wasn't said DISCONTINUED
by ThatBornArtist
Summary: After the Irish war for independence from Great Britain, they never saw eye-to-eye again. And what's more is that conflict is brewing all around the world council meeting's table. France is getting into more arguments with Russia and America seems to be hating Great Britain all at the same time. Can Ireland help her brother? WARNING: RATED T FOR VIOLENCE, LANG, AND SEXUAL TENSIONS.
1. Chapter 1

"Wait! Ashlyn!"

Ashlyn could hear heavy footsteps follow her as she walked away briskly. She didn't bother to look behind her and buried her head into her collar, tears stinging her eyes.

She felt a rough hand grab her hand and whip her around. Her long blonde hair whipped around as she turned to face Arthur, representing the United Kingdom. His bright green eyes were filled with sorrow. His breath fogged in the cold air as he spoke.

"You can't just leave me like this! I know you won your right to become independent, but I need you for the stock trades."

"I'm still a part of the countries that you own, it's not a big deal. I don't understand why you did this to me. I still have scars Arthur-" Ashlyn paused to lift up her black sleeve, which revealed red striped that went across her arm from where he had burned her with the hot rack he was using to cook his scones with. "I'm not a child anymore… I don't need to be treated like this anymore Arthur."

An angered look came onto Arthur's face. "Well, you're going to have to prove that you're able to live on your own."

Ashlyn was furious. "You mean like a war?"

Arthur nodded his head. "If you want to leave you're going to have to fight me."

Ashlyn snapped her hand away from his. "From now on Britain, call me Ireland." She turned around and walked away, holding her burned arm, cold tears stinging her golden brown eyes. She didn't want to admit it, but she didn't really feel like doing anything, but Ashlyn knew she had to if she wanted to win this war. Ashlyn buried her face into her hands as she walked away faster.

What she didn't see was Arthur's face as she walked away, which was stained with tears.


	2. Chapter 2

Things were never the same after that Britain and Ireland went to war. Ireland gained independence, but was still part of the United Kingdom. When the two countries went to war again Britain seized some of Ireland, calling it Northern Ireland, and the original part was known as the Republic of Ireland. She carries the scars from battle to this day, and mainly stayed away from Britain as much as she could.

The republic of Ireland became part of the Hetalia board meetings in 2016, earning popularity from celebrities that were originally from Ireland. Ashlyn was nervous about going to her first board meeting. Were the countries going to like her? Were they going to reject her as a country?

Ashlyn took a deep breath and she stood outside the door of the room to the meeting. She could hear commotion inside already, but she couldn't make out the conversation. Her blonde hair was down and pulled out of her face, she had glasses on so that she could read the papers that she was going to receive. Her grey trench coat reached down to her thighs and she had on black leggings and grey fur boots. Ashlyn reached out with a black gloved hand and turned the door handle, opening the door into the meeting.

When she first came in, she was greeted by chaos. There was a long-haired blonde male that was attempting to grab another black-haired male Japanese male inappropriately. The iconic blonde-haired glasses-wearing America was attempting to pry the long-haired blonde off of the other one. In the other corner was another there was a little Auburn Italian with a burly looking blonde who had his hair slicked back. Both of them were having an argument about what sounded like underwear. In the other corner an extremely tall white-haired male had a twisted pipe in his right hand and was holding it over a long-haired Chinese male threateningly.

All of them turned their heads as soon as she walked in. There was silence for a few moments before everyone scrambled to their seats, falling over each other to get there.

"Yo!" The American greeted Ashlyn. "You must be the representative of the Republic of Ireland! I'm Alfred, the representative of the United States of America, and I'm the hero of this part of the world!" He took Ashlyn's hand and showed her to her seat, which was next to the head of the table which is where the burly blonde was sitting, his piercing blue eyes met hers for a moment before nodding and looking away.

She turned back to the others, who had now returned to their seats. The long-haired blonde had a rose in his hand. _How the hell did he get that? Does he keep them in his pocket?_ Ashlyn wondered to herself

"Ohohnhon-" he smiled and handed the rose across the table to her. "I'm Francis, the representative of France, the country of love and romance."

Ashlyn took the rose from his hand, and smelled it. She scowled when it smelled like plastic. "What the hell? Did you seriously get a plastic rose and give it to a girl?"

A disturbed look came onto Francis' face. "I do that so it doesn't die! How else will you appreciate it?!"

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and looked over at the others. She soon knew that the tall white-haired male was Ivan from Russia, the black-haired Japanese was Kiku from Japan, the Chinese male was Yao, the Italian was Feliciano, and the burly looking male was Ludwig from Germany.

"So," Ludwig spoke. "Who are you?"

Ashlyn spoke softly "I'm Ashlyn from the Republic of Ireland."

"Ve-" Feliciano spoke as he sat on the table in front of Ashlyn. "It's-a great to meet you, bella! Feel-a free to visit my house sometime! We can have-a some pasta and have-a sleep-over with me and-a my friends Germany and Japan!"

While the countries waited for the others to arrive, they shared stories of their countries and how they became so great. The only one who really didn't speak of their country's past was Germany, which was understood. After a while all of the countries were gathered and seated at the table. There was Spain, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Latvia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Canada (which no one saw come in nor acknowledged), and many other countries arrived. Soon enough everyone was ready to start the meeting and get it over with so they could go home.

"Hey, there's an empty seat… are we missing someone?" Ashlyn pointed out to Ludwig, gesturing to the empty chair beside her. As soon as she had said that many other countries had said the same thing, pointing out that someone wasn't here.

"Oh, yes, I forgot. We must be missing-"

Ludwig was cut off by the sound of the door opening.

 _Holy. F***ing. Shit._ Ashlyn's eyes went as wide as her glasses.

It was Britain.


	3. Chapter 3

Ashlyn knew that this was a world meeting, but she completely forgot about Britain. What's more is that the only empty seat was right next to her. She nervously looked down at her notebook that she brought with her and didn't make eye contact with him. Brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes, she tucked it behind her ear and began to flip nervously in her notebook. She stopped at the third to last page and began to doodle, drawing guideline circles before drawing the actual thing she was drawing-which she didn't exactly know yet.

Ashlyn glanced at Britain out of the corner of her eye as he sat down with a great sigh in the seat next to her. She didn't dare look at him, but lifted her head when America began to speak about using global warming to enslave humanity.

"That's stupid," Ludwig spoke up, "it'll never work. Plus, what would they do-clean our houses?"

Ashlyn flipped to the first page of her notebook to take notes on the pros and cons of using global warming to enslave humanity. When they started to go into useless arguing she flipped back to her drawing, which was beginning to look like a deer with great antlers. The red deer is the national animal of Ireland, which is where Ashlyn got her inspiration from.

She heard the creak of the chair next to her and looked up. Ashlyn was surprised to see Arthur peering over from his chair at her drawing. She just stared for a moment before Arthur noticed that he was looking and then looked away at China to see what he and Russia were quarreling about.

"You dumb Russian! Why would I become one with you, aru?!"

"Well," Ivan replied what seemed kindly. "If you don't, then I might as well beat you with Mr. Pipe." Out of what seemed like his scarf he pulled out the twisted pipe he had earlier. China cowered back and ran across the room, eventually hiding behind Ashlyn's chair.

"Help me! Save me from this psychopath, aru!" Ashlyn turned her head and saw China's head buried into the back of the chair and pushing it towards Russia, who was across the table. This caused the chair to be pushed into the table, smashing her torso and causing Ashlyn to cry out softly.

"I wouldn't hurt such a small sunflower, da?" Russia tilted his head and smiled, but a dark aura seemed to be surrounding him.

Being a hot-head, Ashlyn instantly shot back "What? Is my country small?"

Russia looked taken back. "I was joking, da?" He put the pipe away and walked back to his seat.

"Thanks, aru." China got up and ran off to his seat.

"Now," France began to say, "as I was saying, another great issue we have here is the economy. Our economy is depleting because of Global Warming. In my opinion we should stop it instead of making it worse and using it to enslave humanity."

 _That French boy makes a point when he isn't busy on flirting with almost every single country here,_ Ashlyn thought as she wrote down notes on what Francis had said.

"Ha, are you seriously taking notes on what Francis has to say?" Ashlyn looked over to see Britain smirking at her.

Ashlyn put her gel pen down and took off her glasses. She looked over to Britain and gave him a glare. "So what if I am? I'm evaluating it for the next meeting to share my points on it. I bet you don't even have anything to say about it. All you care about is your little imaginary friends."

Arthur's eyes went wide. "That's not true you twit! I-"

" _Excuse me?!_ " Ashlyn now turned to fully face Arthur. "After many years of not having any contact with me _this_ is what you have to say? You call me a twit, you don't even say 'hi' or 'nice to see you again', do you?!"

Arthur looked taken back. "T-that's not-"

"No, I don't want to hear it from you, I really don't. Why don't you just go play with your little imaginary friends in your little play land."

"Now that's not it at all! The mint bunnies I play with are real and you know it!"

"As far as I know you're talking to a spec."

"Ash, I-"

"Oh, don't you 'Ash' me! You weren't like this when I was younger, you were kinder than this." Ashlyn got up and gathered her things, walking past Arthur and turning the door handle to open the door that lead out of the conference room. As she walked past, she noticed America sitting on the small Canadian, his little bear trying to get him out.

"Oh, and Alfred. You're sitting on Matthew." She walked out of the door, letting it slam shut behind her on it's own.


	4. Chapter 4

Ashlyn stormed out of the conference room and down the hall, her heels clumping loudly against the floor, causing an echo. She reached up and wiped a tear from her golden eyes. _Shit, I left my glasses._ But Ashlyn didn't really care as she stepped out of the mansion and onto the street, where it was bright and sunny outside. She fumbled with her keys to open the door, and after she did she could hear the mansion door open and heavy footsteps racing down the staircase. Ashlyn didn't even dare to look around and she got into the car. She closed the door and just turned the ignition to turn on.

Ashlyn turned her head slightly to see Ivan running out with her glasses and pen in his right hand. She wiped the tears from her eyes and rolled down the window to greet him. "May I help you?"

"Da, you left your glasses in the conference room." He outstretched his hand and handed her the glasses and pen.

Ashlyn took the glasses and pen from his hand and threw them into the passenger seat next to her. "Thanks," she mumbled. She quickly rolled up the window and pressed her foot against the gas pedal, driving off without giving Ivan a chance to speak. As Ashlyn turned the corner, she swore she could see Arthur standing in the doorway, watching her leave the conference.

As she pulled into her driveway it was beginning to cloud, which meant it was probably going to rain, which was normal in the Republic of Ireland. Ashlyn got out of her car, grabbing her items in the passenger seat and hurrying inside. Once she opened the door she was almost knocked over by her large bronze Irish Setter.

"I know Biddy, not now please, okay?" Ashlyn groaned as she fought her way inside the house. "I'll take you out in just a minute."

Ashlyn walked into the dining room and placed her notebooks there. She took off her trench coat, which revealed a black long-sleeved shirt with a four-leafed clover etched onto it with white trimming. It was strapless, so it was held up by her bust, which wasn't very large. She adjusted it as she walked down the corridor, Biddy excitedly leaping at her heels. Opening the door, she took in a deep breath on rainy air as Biddy went bounding outside. After a few minutes Biddy came trotting back inside and ran down the hall. Ashlyn only closed the door and walked down the hall and into the sitting room, which consisted of a couch, a 75-inch television screen, and two recliners.

Ashlyn flopped herself onto the couch and lay her head on the decorative pillow. She reached for the remote and pressed the big red button, which turned on the television. She felt her legs being crushed and she looked down to see Biddy trying to fit himself onto the couch with Ashlyn, but was only smashing her legs down into the couch. Ashlyn looked back up at the television to see that _Goosebumps_ was on.

 _Isn't this an American channel?_ Ashlyn thought as she closed her eyes for a bit of rest. _Thank god Alfred isn't here to see this…._

 _Bring-Ding-Bing-Dang!_

 _What the hell?_ Ashlyn got up, rubber her golden amber eyes, and stretched-accidentally kicking Biddy off of the couch. She looked over at the bedside table to see her iPhone screen on, which was extremely bright in the small, dark room. On closer inspection Ashlyn saw that it was an unknown number. Not wanting to be rude, she sat up and picked up the phone, sliding the green answer button upwards to answer the call.

"Hello?" Ashlyn groaned weekly.

"Hello? Ashlyn?" Came a voice from over the phone.

"Who is this?" Ashlyn shot, clearly disturbed that she was awoken at an hour like this by an unknown number. "Who are you?"

"O-oh, sorry. It's Matthew."

 _What the hell?_ "Matthew? Why are you calling me and how did you get my number?"

"Sorry, Francis got the number from Arthur. I just wanted to say thanks for sticking up for me earlier and I also wanted to see if you were okay."

"Oh," Ashlyn groaned softly, "Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't realize Arthur still had my number."

"I guess so." Matthew paused as another voice came over from his side of the line. It was faint but it was enough to that Ashlyn could hear it.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Canada…" Matthew answered.

"How does your own polar bear not know your own name?"

"Everyone forgets about me, even Kumajirou." Matthew sounded distressed as he said this, as if it were something he were getting off his chest after bottling it up for so many weeks.

"Well," Ashlyn began, "Everyone should notice you for who you are! You're the second largest country in the world for crying out loud! Let no one make you believe that you aren't special. If anyone puts you down, come to me."

"B-but-"

"No if, ands, or buts about it, Matt. You deserve to be recognized. And when I say 'come to me' I mean it, okay? I just can't stand other countries being bullied because of one small thing."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few minutes. "Well, thank you…"

"Your welcome. Now, is there a reason why you called me at midnight?"

"Midnight?! Oh, it's only 7:00 over here on Ottawa! I'm so sorry, Ashlyn, let me leave you alone so you can sleep. I'll see you at the next conference meeting on Tuesday."

"Will do. Goodnight, Matthew."

"G'night." _Click._

Ashlyn set her phone back on the table, only this time taking a minute to turn it off. She crawled back down onto the couch and hugged the pillow she was sleeping on and went into a deep sleep once more, feeling proud of herself, but for she wasn't quite sure why.


	5. Chapter 5

As Ashlyn walked into the conference room, this time she was the first one in there. This time, she was wearing a long-sleeved black hoodie with the words "Kiss Me I'm Irish" printed on the front with green trim around the end of the sleeves, the bottom, and on the strings. She wore grey pants and black boots. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun held together by a mechanical pencil. She sat down in her normal spot and got out her sketchbook and just sat there, unable to focus on what it was that she wanted to draw.

She sat there for just about 5 minutes when she heard heavy footsteps outside of the hall. "Doitsu! Doitsu! Why are we here so early?"

"Because, Italy, we need to think about your strategy." Ashlyn only guess that the gruff door was Germany.

"What strategy?" Came the small voice of Italy.

"I agree with Italy, what is this strategy?" Came another calm voice from behind the door.

The door handle turned, but the door didn't open. "You tell no one of this, okay? I'll tell you later." The door then opened, and in walked in Germany, Italy, and Japan. All three of the stopped and blinked at each other when they saw Ashlyn sitting at the table.

"It's-a Ashlyn!" Italy bounded over to greet her. "Why are you-a here so early?"

"O-oh," she couldn't help but be lost for words at the sweet Italian. "I just came here a little early because I wanted to speak to you guys about the plan we were attempting to work out last week."

Ashlyn looked over to Ludwig, who seemed surprised. "You actually pay attention to the world meetings?"

Ashlyn looked down at her notebook. "Well, yeah… am I not supposed to?"

Ludwig looked taken back. "No, no. It's just that normally people don't." He walked over and sat down at his seat, which was at the head of the table's next to Ashlyn. He took out a pair of glasses that Ashlyn didn't even realize he had. "Now, let's see your notes."

Ashlyn flipped nervously through her notebook as if it were some sin if she got something wrong. "Well here, I did some basic notes on global warming. It seems that it's an unbalance of carbon dioxide to breathable air in our atmosphere. If we were to use it to slave humanity, it would only make matters worse, which wouldn't be good for any of us and it would more than likely kill all of us. So I believe that we should use global warming to band us all together to stop it. A few pros that I took note on are the facts that it would provide cleaner economy and it would band us all together. Although there is the fact that not everyone gets along with each other. But in this case, the pros will out benefit the cons in this situation…."

Ashlyn looked up from her notes to see Ludwig just staring at her notes. "This is the most logical explanation that I've ever heard from anyone-even myself."

"Seriously?" Ashlyn asked, "even you?"

Ludwig looked flustered. "Well, yeah. I'm basically the only country to pays attention at the meetings."

"That sucks."

"Damn right it does."

Both Ashlyn and Ludwig laughed a little, but only to be cut off by the doors opening again. Through those doors, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and China walked in. All of them seemed to be bickering at each other over something, but only god knows what. Both china and Russia were cursing each other in their native tongue, but that was normal. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia both looked nervous as they walked next to Russia, as if they were afraid of making a wrong move.

After a while the other countries started filling into the conference hall, taking chairs and claiming seats for others.

"Where's Arthur?" Ashlyn asked Germany.

"I don't know, but I heard from Alfred that he wouldn't be coming to this meeting."

"Ireland! Ireland!" Came a small voice easily recognized as Italy's, but it was followed by a rougher Italian voice. "This is my brother, Romano!"

Ashlyn looked to the person standing next to Italy. He has a similar haircut as Italy except it was darker and parted to the side and his curl was a bit higher and on the other side. His eyes were slightly lighter than Italy's as well and he wore a tan outfit similar to the one that Italy wore.

"Eh, who is-a this?" Romano's gruff voice took her by surprise.

"That's-a Ireland!" Italy replied.

"She doesn't look like this ragazza is from Ireland." Romano paused to look at her up and down, reading her hoodie and then back up at her. "Isn't your hair supposed to be red?"

"Not all Irish people have red hair, mind you." Ashlyn shot back at Romano.

"Well then you-"

"As-a you can tell, Romano has been hanging around our big-a brother Spain, so he's become kind of a dick," Italy looked over from Ashlyn to Romano.

"I have-a not you little pasta eating freak!" Romano's face was red when he said this to his big brother.

"I have to agree with Italy, you kind of have become a dick." Ashlyn looked over to see Ludwig butt into the conversation, readjusting his glasses, be took Ashlyn's notebook from her and shuffled the papers inside of it so that it was all straight.

"No one asked your opinion you potato bastard!"

Ashlyn couldn't help but to snicker at this remark, which she instantly covered up as a cough when both Romano and Ludwig took glances at her.

"Never mind that right now." Ludwig stood up. "Alright! Since no one had bothered to lay some ground ruled for these meetings I will! Each of us will go around the table clockwise to discuss the topic about global warming! Each person will have 5 minutes to talk-no going over time and no discussing my country's past! Who shall start?"

All of the countries quieted at his booming voice, which echoed down the hall. They all looked at each other, wondering who would offer to go first. After a while, everyone turned to look as a single hand went up near the front of the table.

"Ashlyn?" Ludwig asked, "are you sure you want to volunteer?"

She only nodded her head. "Of course, they are my notes after all." Ashlyn was a little ticked that Ludwig had taken her notes.

"O-oh, erm…" Ludwig quickly handed Ashlyn her notes and sat down, allowing her to stand up. Ashlyn cleared her throat and begin to recite the very speech she had told Ludwig earlier, but this time throwing in real-world examples to give general ideas to the less developed countries.

Once she was done, all of the countries looked at each other and nodded their heads.

"Does anyone have questions?" Ashlyn nervously asked.

The gloved hand of America shot up in the back, so she called upon him to ask his question.

"Why the hell are you so smart?" America's blue eyes twinkled as he said this.

Ashlyn just stood there are every other country told him to sit the f*** down.

"Well then." Ashlyn cleared her throat. "If no one has questions I suppose the next person should go." She turned to her right to see that Italy had sat down in the seat beside her. Ashlyn sat down so that he could speak. She instantly regretted it because he instantly talked about how global warming Is supposed to help make pasta.

Soon enough every country had gone and most of them settled with Ireland, except for America, ranting on about how the countries should use it for enslaving humanity instead.

Soon enough the meeting was over with us countries discussing the matter, but the possibility of getting anything done would more than likely not happen. Ashlyn waited for most of the countries to file out before she went anywhere. As she sat there, she noticed that one other country was still sitting down.

"Russia?" Ashlyn spoke out as the last country closed the door behind them, leaving Ireland and Russia alone.

He looked up, a strange look in his eyes before he smiled, wiping it away. "Oh, privet young one."

Ashlyn got up and walked around the conference table to go sit next to him. "You look down, what's wrong?"

Ivan looked up at her, a surprised look on his face. "I don't scare you?"

Ashlyn just paused for a moment. "Well, at times you do, but not now. I just want to know what's wrong."

Ivan looked back down at the table. "You noticed someone else wasn't at the meeting besides Arthur, da?"

Ashlyn reached back into her memory. "Oh yeah, France right? I should've known why I didn't hear any pervy comments today at the meeting."

Ivan only smiled. It was the saddest smile that she had ever seen. "France decided that it would be a good idea to invade my western borders. While he did so he threw out some mean comments that I would rather not repeat, sunflower."

Ashlyn couldn't help but feel bad for him. Without thinking, she reached over and gave him a small hug. She felt him tense and coil, as if he was about to lash out at her. As soon as she thought about drawing away, he relaxed and embraced her as well. "If there's ever anything you need me to do let me know."

This was her biggest mistake. As Ashlyn tried to pull away, she found herself being held against Ivan by his arms, which were so tensed up she couldn't move.

"Uh… Ivan, I think it's time to let me go now." Ashlyn's voice cracked midsentence, which usually means that she was beginning to get sick or she was starting to get emotional, and in this case she was getting sick.

"Oh, no little sunflower." His voice had changed drastically. "You will now become one with me, da?"

"What?! By anything I didn't mean this!" Ashlyn began to struggle. She soon found herself being picked up and slammed onto the table, which practically broke her back. Before she could scream Ivan's hand was over her mouth, almost suffocating her if it weren't for the one nose hole between fingers.

Russia's face was now centimeters from hers. "There are no if, ands, or buts about it. You will become one with me sunflower." Russia's face slid down and he bit her ear, causing it to bleed a little.

Ashlyn tried screaming. _How can no one hear the goddamn noise he's making in here!_ Ashlyn frantically thought.

"WHAT THE F*** DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-A DOING?" Ashlyn looked out of the corner of her golden eye to see Romano in the doorway, Italy looking behind him, Germany to his left and Japan to his right. Germany moved forward and grabbed Russia by the back of the neck and pulled him back. Russia squeezed Ashlyn's face at the surprise movement, which caused Ashlyn to squeal in pain. Romano pried Ivan's hand off of Ashlyn as Ludwig dealt with Russia. Italy just stood in the background frantically waving a white flag to show his neutrality.

"Get up, bella," Romano whispered. "We're going somewhere safe while they take-a care of the problem."

Ashlyn only nodded. She ran out the door after Romano, ignoring the pain in her right leg. As she turned the corner, she could see Russia and Ivan practically wrestling with each other. She felt bad as they ran out the door and into Romano's car, which was green. He quickly started the engine and they skidded down the street, leaving the other three behind.

When they got to Romano's place both of them just sat in the car for a few moments before getting out. As Ashlyn stepped out she noticed the pain in her right leg, but kept walking as if it wasn't there. As she looked out at the sun, she noticed that there was a straight line going down her vision. She instantly took off her glasses.

"Damn it," Ashlyn said.

"What?" Romano asked.

"He broke my goddamn glasses." Ashlyn held up the lenses to show him where it was cracked.

"I'm-a sorry, ragazza. I believe that potato bastard keeps and extra pair here. You can see if those are the right prescription."

"Thanks Romano."

As they walked inside, they were instantly greeted by the smell of tomatoes, which lingered everywhere they went. Romano's house was a mess, although there was a neatness to the chaos. The floors were mainly carpet, which seemed spotless. The windows were large and she space seemed bigger than normal.

"Go in in the living room. I'll-a make you some food." Romano went into the kitchen and instantly got out tomatoes.

Ashlyn smiled. "Sounds good." She walked into the living room, which had the same exact layout as hers did. She sat down and took off her heels, setting them down at the foot of the couch. She sighed and lay back on the couch, which was pleather, but still nice. She took her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. It was 3:00 PM in Ireland, so it was about 4:00 in Italy.

Ashlyn heard heavy footsteps and looked up to see Romano coming into the dining room with two slices of pizza. He handed one to Ashlyn.

"Romano?"

"Hmm?"

"I just want to thank you."

"Oh, you're-a welcome."

"No, I mean not for the pizza, but for everything you've done today. I probably would've unwillingly become 'one with Russia' if it weren't for you guys coming along." Ashlyn looked down and took a small bite of her pepperoni pizza, which had tomatoes instead of pepperonis. She didn't even notice that she was tearing up until she felt a small drop on her leg.

"Oh, bella." Romano walked over and sat down next to Ashlyn. "Don't let-a anyone do that-a to you again, okay? Believe it or not, Ivan is actually-a known for luring people in that-a way, that's how he got Lithuania to do whatever he says. If you ever-a need help, just-a let me know, okay?"

Ashlyn smiled. "Okay…. Do you have television? It's way too quiet and dark."

Romano only chuckled. "Yes."

After watching television for about half an hour Ashlyn began to grow drowsy. Fading in and out of sleep, she kept seeing Russia's dark purple eyes piercing into hers. She shivered and she leaned her head to one side, not realizing that it was Romano, and fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Ashlyn was stiff the next morning when she woke up. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was surprised when she found herself in her own bed. Thankfully she was still in her own clothes from the night before. She went to stretch, but when she reached her band out, the knocked a sleeping body off the bed.

"Hey!"

"Holy shit!" Ashlyn jumped to the other side, hitting another body. "What? H-huh? Who? W-why? Where?"

"Calm down, bella." Came a voice from the side of the bed. Romano's head then poked out from the other side. "It's-a just us."

"B-but what are you doing in my house? _In my bed_?" Ashlyn demanded.

"Bella, we were-a sleeping here because our big-a brother Spain came home and he was-a making a huge racket, so we decided to-a bring you here." Italy sat up to Ashlyn's right, he was wearing a pink tank-top and what looked like light-blue boxers.

"Yeah, and when we came home Spain had-a locked us out and gone to bed, so we didn't have any place else to go." Romano stood up, he wasn't wearing a shirt, but he was wearing flannel bottoms.

"Well, what about Germany?"

"Germany was-a visiting Japan for a few days to work out the alliance." Italy rolled out of bed, almost falling on his face before getting up.

"I don't care! If you guys are going to stay here at least get dressed or something! I fell weird." Ashlyn got up out of bed and went through her drawers, picking out some casual, yet trendy clothes. She walked out the door and left the two brothers to themselves to change.

She walked into the bathroom and got her own clothes on, which consisted of short black shorts with a loose flowing white top and her hair tied back in a pony-tail, half up and half down. She put on some white cotton socks and padded down the hall, almost slipping a few times. Halfway down the hall she decided to just run a little and slide the rest of the way.

As she slid into the kitchen, she began to hear screaming voices. Ashlyn rushed into the bedroom as fast as she could, not caring if they were dressed or not. "What the hell is happening?!"

Ashlyn was greeted with the strangest sight in the world. Romano was half-dressed with pants on but no shirt and Italy was on the bed in the most feminine position Ashlyn had ever seen a guy make. He was also only dressed halfway, but with his shirt on only with boxers. Romano was bent over Italy and their faces were disturbingly close.

Both of them exclaimed when the door opened, Romano trying to get away, but something was whiplashed his head back into Italy's giving him a killer head-butt. On closer inspection it looked like a string was holding their heads together.

"Damn it, Italy! Get your curl out of mine!" Romano exclaimed, obviously frustrated.

"It's-a not my fault! It was your curl that was-a caught in mine!" Italy quickly counted back at his younger brother.

"Oh, will both of you shut up." Ashlyn walked over and reached out between them, seeing how the curls were tangled. Sure enough, both tangles were wrapped around each other's. She carefully worked, trying not to pull wither of their curls too hard. After a few minutes of twisting here and there, the two Italian brothers were finally free of each other. Both guys smoothed out their curls and blushed furiously, Italy apologizing over and over and Romano turning as red as one of this home grown tomatoes. Ashlyn just sighed, glad that that awkward moment was over.

"Now, get dressed, and don't have this happen again. That was definitely awkward for all of us." Ashlyn walked out of the room, blushing a little as she closed the door. Once she was out of the earshot of the two boys, she began to laugh to herself. _How does this even happen?_ She wondered. _It's not like those two are that close. As far as I know, Romano doesn't like his older brother all that much…._

She turned her head when she heard the door opening again. This time Romano stepped out and closed the door behind him. He had his undershirt on and he was tightening his tie that he always wore. He was still blushing, but not as much as he was before. "I'm-a sorry. Italy decided it was a good idea to-a mention him sleeping in bed with Germany."

Ashlyn did think that this was odd, although she only asked why he was mad. "It's not like it's illegal. They aren't really related so it's okay. If your brother wants to be with Germany so be it."

Romano blinked a little, but then he just sighed and hung his head. "I guess you're right. It's just I can't let my brother go."

"I can understand that to the fullest." Ashlyn sighed, recalling her past with Britain.

"No, you don't."

"How?"

Romano paused before continuing. "Grandpa Rome disappeared one day and no one-a knows where he went. Italy was-a devastated and almost went into a state of-a depression. He wouldn't eat and he wouldn't even draw for the-a longest time. It-a was at a point to where he wouldn't get out of-a bed. I asked Spain to go-a visit my brother, but he wouldn't-a let me because I hadn't cleaned the house that day. I didn't care what he said, I went out at about midnight to visit my older brother. When I got there he was crying softly into his pillow. I told him that I would always be with him no matter what happens and that I wouldn't leave his side. What I said seemed to cheer him up, and he promised that he wouldn't leave my side. We were close until he decided to ally with Germany." Romano paused then, which caused Ashlyn to look up at him. She was surprised to find that his eyes were wet. She almost got up and hugged him, but she didn't want to make the same mistake that she did with Russia.

"I just-a don't want Italy to leave my side," Romano finished.

Ashlyn didn't say anything for a while, but after about ten seconds she finally spoke. "Britain wasn't exactly the best big brother or father in the world. Well, first of all he'd almost kill me with his cooking-" Romano laughed at this part. "-but he was also abusive-in both his words and actions. Every time I would do something small that he didn't like he would hit me with something. I never had a chance to meet new countries because Arthur would keep me at home and homeschool me, which is how I learned the habit of taking notes. Eventually I had had enough, so I declared independence. Ever since then he and I never saw eye to eye again. Deep down inside, I wish we were close again."

Romano just stared at the ground. "I'm-a so sorry, bella."

Ashlyn took a deep breath and forced a smile. "It's fine. No need to apologize."

"I don't know how you-a seem to be happy ninety percent of the time," Romano chuckled and sat down next to Ashlyn on the couch.

"Well, not-"

"IRLANDA!" In a split second, Ashlyn's breath was knocked out of her as Italy jumped onto both of Romano and Ashlyn.

"You Pasta Bastardo! Get off!" Romano yelled at his brother, who was also laying on top of him.

"But I-a want to have a hug therapy session with you two!" Italy cried back.

After a few hours of arguing between the two brothers and Ashlyn intervening in between them, they finally decided to leave to see if Spain was awake.

As they left, Ashlyn smiled. _Today seemed interesting. I learned more about myself and Romano… I'll be sure to keep what he said in mind._

 _ **Hey guys. I'm having a design contest for Ireland. I just need a coloured headshot of what**_ **you** _ **think she looks like. The winner of the contest will get to be the story's new cover image. If you also want to send me fanart too, that's good. IDK what the email restraints on this are, but my email is theonesongwriter0 . You can also private message me too. I'll see you in the next chapter~**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hello! Thanks for reading this far into the story. I wasn't expecting this many reads. Now, the contest is still open, and if you're new, let me give you a heads up on what's happening.**_

 _ **I'm having an art contest on the design on Ireland/Ashlyn. All I want is a colored headshot of what you think she looks like. You can include her with another canon character if you'd like as well. The piece of art that is closest to what she looks like will get to be featured on the cover page as well as on my deviant art (which isn't very popular but what the hell).**_

 _ **Have fun!**_

Walking into the conference hall the next morning, Ashlyn found that Japan was already seated, but he was busy eating his bento box, so she left him alone and sat in her normal spot. She went to reach for her glasses in her satchel, but she forgot that they had broken and she had to hold her paper out in front of her with an outstretched arm.

"No glasses?" Ashlyn jumped to hear Kiku talk. She looked over and he wasn't even looking at her.

"Umm… yeah. No glasses I guess." Ashlyn felt slightly awkward considering what happened a few days ago.

"That's bad. Can you not see without them?"

"Uh, I can see, but just only far away."

Kiku didn't say anything after that, but just stared at the manga that he was reading, pushing his finished bento box aside. His midnight black hair swayed in his eyes a little as he turned his head to look out the window.

Ashlyn sighed and continued trying to read the notes that she had written. She eventually gave up and set her book down on the table and rubbed her temples with her shaking fingertips. She was nervous about the meeting because of what happened last time she was there. Standing up, she began to pace by the table nervously, her converse barely making any noise on the wooden floors. Ashlyn was wearing just a buttoned-up red flannel with black jeans. He hair was down like normal, but with a stray strand of hair here and there due to the fact that she couldn't see close up.

"Nervous?" Kiku asked again.

Ashlyn sighed and turned to look at him. "Why are you so good at sensing the damn mood?"

"I sense the mood not just because I'm good at it, but because I care."

Ashlyn was taken back at this statement. _He always seems so monotone as far as I'm concerned. He never really struck me as one who cared._

"I really do care. I may not show it, but I really do. I just don't show it because of the many things that my country has gone through." Kiku closed his manga and looked at her, his seemingly soulless brown eyes looking into her golden ones.

Ashlyn cleared her throat. "But anyways, yes I am nervous."

Kiku only nodded. "If Ivan tries anything he'll get his ass handed to him by one of us."

Ashlyn only laughed a little. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Kiku."

He only nodded. "Your welcome, Ashlyn-san."

Ashlyn closed her eyes and sat down in her seat, a little less shaky than before. After about three minutes, the doors opened, which revealed an Alfred and a Matthew. Matthew immediately sat down in the nearest available seat while Alfred ran over to where Ashlyn was.

"Ashlyn! My dudette!" Alfred slung his arm over her shoulders with such force that she swore it caused her to shrink about half an inch. He pulled a wrapper with something in it out of his pocket. "Wanna try this new burger recipe I came up with? It's buffalo meat!"

Ashlyn was taken back. She didn't want to eat something that looked greasy, but she didn't want to be rude. "I'll try it."

"Awesome!" Alfred jumped, unwrapped the burger, and shoved it in her mouth. "How does it taste?"

Ashlyn's tongue took a while to process the burger. It was made with grilled buffalo meat (which actually tasted not that bad), lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, mustard, and bun. But there was something in there that made her spit it out in the garbage can.

"What the hell was in that?" Ashlyn stood up, fanning her mouth and wishing she had brought her water bottle with her.

"Oh, sorry dudette!" Alfred scratched his head. "There are jalapenos in the meat."

"Why couldn't you have told me that before I bit into the goddamned sandwich?!"

Alfred threw his hands up in the air. "Sorry. I just didn't think of it."

The doors opened again and in bounded in the small auburn Italian. "Irlanda~!"

"An Iodáil." Ashlyn responded in Irish Gaelic. "Ghearmáin."

"Irland." Ludwig responded in German. "Where's Kiku?"

Ashlyn pointed to the far corner where the Japanese male was found reading his manga. "Over there."

Germany nodded. "Vielen Dank."

"Irlanda!" Feliciano cried out, jumping onto Ashlyn and swinging around her neck. "We-a fixed your glasses for you~!" He reached into his pocket and pulled her glasses, which were now crack-free and shiny.

Ashlyn took them eagerly. "Go raibh maith agat, Feliciano!" She put them on her face, now able to see that his eyes were open, which was very rare on an Italian (unless you're Romano).

"Ve~." Feliciano responded, his eyes closing again. "Prego. Romano wasn't able to-a come because he had some business to do with-a big-brother Spain."

Ashlyn nodded. "Understood."

The doors opened again and in walked in a tipsy Francis followed by Arthur, although as soon as Ashlyn made eye contact with Arthur he immediately abandoned Francis and walked over to where Ashlyn was.

"Having a little deal with the Russian I see?" Arthur said matter-of-factly.

Ashlyn didn't want to deal with it right now, especially with Italy still clinging to her neck. "After, cac Diop."

"What?" Arthur tilted his head, unsure of what she had just said.

"It means 'dip shit', dumb ass!" Ashlyn snapped, walking back to her seat with Feliciano still hanging around her neck. She sat down in her seat, which Feliciano took as an initiative to take his seat beside hers. "Now sit down and let's get this meeting over with."

Arthur respectively took his seat a few seats down from hers, which was unfortunately next to France, who was trying his best to "live for the moment", which means practically grope every country that showed up at the meeting today.

The meeting didn't really contain much except for the countries bickering back and forth on what to do about Global Warming, which Ashlyn didn't bother to take notes on considering it was a waste of time. Ivan did make it to the meeting, but he stayed on the other side of the table. Arthur kept making angry glances in Ashlyn's direction, in which she returned gratefully. Ludwig was yelling at Italy for sleeping and the rest of the countries were busy doing whatever.

Once the meeting was over Feliciano instantly woke up and began talking to Ashlyn about different types of pastas and how to cook them. Ludwig then had to drag him out of the room before he passed out from as much talking as he's done. Ashlyn was left sitting alone at her chair while everyone else seemed to be nonchalant and file out of the meeting room.

"So." Ashlyn heard Arthur's voice loud and clear. "Making a deal with Ivan I see?"

Ashlyn stood so that she stood only a little shorter than Britain. "That wasn't even my fault, don't you dare go blaming that incident on me!"

"I can damn well blame it on you if I want to!" Arthur raised his voice to match hers.

Ashlyn stood closer, now nose-to-nose with Arthur. "Stoptar suas! Do you think I really care at this point?! Whether you or I like it or not I am an independent country and I can make my own decisions! Why do you have to treat me like as if I was younger?!"

Arthur stood there, his green eyes flickered with what seemed like remorse, and then softened completely. "You're right. I'm sorry, Ashlyn. You're making me feel worse than I already do."

Ashlyn then instantly felt remorseful as well. "I'm sorry too."

Arthur sighed and shook his head. "I shouldn't have acted ungentlemanly like I was, I apologize."

Ashlyn smiled. "leithscéal glactha."

"Uh..."

"Apology accepted."

Arthur smiled. "Thanks Ashlyn. Make sure you stay out of trouble." He turned and walked towards the door, his black boots clomping against the ground as he walked.

"I'll try."

Arthur turned around before heading out the door. "And if Ivan gives you trouble, call me. Okay?"

Ashlyn only smiled and nodded. "I'll be sure."

The Englishman smiled and walked out the door, leaving Ashlyn alone in the meeting room.

"deartháir buíochas mór."


	8. Chapter 8

_**I don't know why I post this anymore. It's a good past time, but I have school and shit, so I don't post as often as I would like to. I'm sorry for those of you who don't like this story, this is my first shot at fanfiction and I'm honestly trying my hardest. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GIVE ME SOME TIPS IN THE REVIEWS SECTION ON HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER OR ON CHARACTER FLAWS/STORY FLAWS. I'm sorry if reading this was a waste of your time, onto the story already.**_

 _ **Art Contest is still open, go back to the previous chapter to see guidelines, my google contact is theonesongwriter0. Also feel free to PM me.**_

Ashlyn breathed in the crisp Irish air as she walked down the street. She was walking back from the nearest Coffeeangel PSL, which actually wasn't that far from where she lived. She was wearing a black and white trench coat with white jeans and black high-heeled boots. Her hair was down and parted to the side, like normal, but she decided that it would look cute with her bangs in a braid pulled off to the side.

As she took her first sip of coffee her phone buzzed in her pocket, which played a popular song in Ireland called "No one is more Irish than Barack O'Bama", which one of the citizens had suggested that she put it as her ringtone. She rolled her eyes and slid the green call button over. "Dia dhuit?"

"Ashlyn, it's Arthur." His voice was very urgent and impatient, which came as a shock to Ashlyn.

"Wait, why? What's going on?" Ashlyn stopped so she could hear what Arthur was saying.

"Both France and Russia have gone missing."

.

Ashlyn barged into the meeting hall about thirty minutes later, her coffee was still in her hand and her phone was shoved back in her pocket. Everyone else was huddled around the table as if they were all one big wolf pack huddling for warmth.

"What did I miss?" Ashlyn asked briskly.

Germany stood tall. "Hallo, Irland."

"That's not what I asked!" Ashlyn snapped in his direction.

A tall white-haired male with bright red eyes stepped out from behind him. "Excuse West, my little brother, liebe, but he can be a bit off-task sometimes. I'm Prussia, or Gilbert, the awesomest country here!"

"Isn't Prussia a dissolved country?"

Gilbert was taken back. "H-hey! That may be true, but I'm technically East Germany!"

Ashlyn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. China, what's the news?"

"No one has come into contact with Ivan since two meetings ago, and France three meetings ago, aru. Russia was last seen being chased off by Germany into town, but records shows that he's gone back to his homeland, aru." China finished and looked around.

"So we know that Ivan is in Russia, but we just don't know exactly where?" Kiku asked, which Ashlyn just now noticed standing beside Feliciano, who was standing to her left.

"Shi, and what's worse is that Russia is so big that he could be anywhere." China fumbled with the chalk as he drew a makeshift outline of the massive country of Russia. "We need to split up, the more ground we cover the better off we'll be, aru."

"Shouldn't we split up into groups?" Roderich, otherwise known as Austria, asked. "It'd be better because we don't have to worry about us being interrogated or hurt without backup."

"Pospishay! Hurry up!" Katyusha (Ukraine) spoke up, "I want to see my little brother again!" Ashlyn looked over to see tears in her eyes. She knew that Katyusha was a strong country, but she was surprised to see her choking back tears. Part of Ashlyn wanted to go and hug her, but the other half was wanting to stay away because she knew that Katyusha was very strong.

"Hǎo de! Alright! I'll assign groups if it quits your complaining, aru!" China then wrote on the board which people were paired with who. Ashlyn managed to get paired up with Lovino, Feliciano, Ludwig, and Gilbert, who immediately set out to explore the middle part of Russia, leaving the others to their quarreling on who gets to go with who.

.

Once they got there Ashlyn immediately had to hunker down in her coat. It was extremely cold in Russia and all she was wearing was her trench coat, a thin shirt, and her jeans and boots. Feliciano also seemed to freeze, but he managed to cling to Germany, who carried him and offered him warmth. Gilbert didn't complain, but she could tell by his shivers that he was also extremely cold out there in the snow.

"Alright, so what is it that we know about Ivan?" Ludwig asked.

"W-well," Feliciano stuttered. "We know that-a he's very dark and scary and doesn't like being around people much."

"Well then," Gilbert spoke up, "Why don't we just search the abandoned warehouses and alleyways to see if we can find him. And can we hurry up? I'm freezing!" He shifted back and forth, trying to get blood circulating and to warm up. He looked over to see Ashlyn staring off into space. "You okay, liebe?"

Ashlyn snapped out of her though process. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I promise."

"Alright, let's get to searching then." Ludwig trailed off, Feliciano still hanging around his neck, Gilbert behind him, and Ashlyn last.

They managed to search three abandoned warehouses and four alleyways before coming across China's group, which consisted of America, Canada, Japan, and himself. After a bit of bickering and asking questions they decided to go separate ways so that they could cover more ground. Ashlyn's group went East, eventually searching a few more warehouses, in which they were more often than not chased out by cockroaches and rats.

But while they were searching, Ashlyn couldn't help but think that they weren't searching in the right place. Based on what Ivan had said before the fiasco where she had to be rescued, she recalled him saying "sunflower" many times during their chat. Ashlyn also remembered that he wasn't at all who he seemed to be. Based on her judgements, he seemed gentle to a point, but goes over the line sometimes. And based on his childhood, Ashlyn can understand where he comes from.

She processed all of this in her head, stopping for a moment, letting the others go ahead of her before Gilbert noticing.

"Liebe! Come on! Don't be unawesome and be a slow-poke! We're almost done searching the region, Roderich's party is just a pit further North and then we'll be done!" He turned around, waiting for Ashlyn to catch up, but she continued to stare at the ground, snow falling on her head. "Liebe?"

Ashlyn suddenly snapped her head up. "I know where he is." She turned tail and ran off South, as far South so that there wasn't much snow.

"Leibe!" Gilbert cried and started after Ashlyn. "Wait up!"

"Irlanda!" Feliciano cried, running after Ashlyn as well. Seeing as Ludwig didn't have much of a choice, he also ran off after Ashlyn.

All four of them were running into the snow storm, which blinded them so that they could only see three feet in front of their faces. Gilbert stopped looking off into the distance to try and find out which direction she had gone. When Feliciano went flying past Gilbert, he quickly reached out and grabbed his work attire collar, pulling him back to him. Ludwig stopped by them, looking off into the same direction as Gilbert.

"Nun, was tun wir jetzt? _(Well, what do we do now?)_ " Gilber turned to Ludwig.

The burly blonde German only sighed deeply. "Wir warten. Sie kommt zurück, sobald sie den Kopf frei hat und erkannte, Ivan ist nicht überall dort, wo sie denkt, er ist. _(_ _We wait. She'll come back once she's cleared her head and realized Ivan isn't wherever she thinks he is.)_ "

"Ve~" Feliciano chimed in.

"Shut up, Feliciano!" Gilbert and Ludwig chimed in unison.

.

Ashlyn stumbled and fell, falling to the hard grass after running for so long. She had managed to get by the other groups without them noticing that she had ran off by herself. She had been running for what seemed like hours with her heightened speed and durability of being a nation, but she had tired herself out after a while. She rolled onto her back, allowing her frozen face to be warmed a little by the clouds. _I'm glad it isn't as snowy and cold here as it us up North,_ Ashlyn laughed as she sat up, her hair ruffled a little and her trench coat wrinkled.

She eventually got up, her stiff joints cracked and popped as she stood. Once standing straight, she looked around and headed east, where there seemed to be a large sunflower meadow. After a few steps, she stopped and took off her black heels, her feet feeling ten times better afterwards. After walking for a few minutes, her eyes noticed something strange. Over in the center of the field, there was a large patch that seemed to ruffle against the wind, as if something were moving it.

Ashlyn walked over only to find a familiar figure in the grass, fast asleep on his side. She smiled to herself and she whispered "Dia duit ann, Ivan. _(Hello there, Ivan.)_ "

She sat down next to him, not daring to come close in case he woke up and found her presence unsettling. Eventually getting tired, she decided to lay down next to him, resting her head on her arm and curling her legs up to her body to conserve body heat. _This is odd,_ she thought as she drifted off to sleep. _Ivan isn't at all what others say or think he is. He's a giant tsundere teddy bear once you get to know him well enough._

Just as Ashlyn closed her eyes to go to sleep, she noticed a hand brush her hair out of her face. "Privet, sunflower."

"Dia duit ann, Ivan." Ashlyn sleepily responded.

"Go to sleep, Lyublyu," Ivan replied, wrapping part of his scar around her head to keep her warm.

Ashlyn only nodded, eventually drifting off to sleep, Ivan by her side. As she fell asleep, Ivan closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Yesli by ya znal luchshe, ya by skazal, chto ya upal v trans. _(If I knew any better, I'd say I've fallen in love.)_ "


	9. Chapter 9

Most of the countries had gathered in one of the nearby warehouses that wasn't completely infested with rats, although there were two or three that Italy Romano could see. When Romano got there with Ashlyn's group he immediately went off on his own trying to find as much as possible, but he didn't realize that the entire group had ventured off without him until Feliciano came running back and practically transformed into a monkey as he hung on his shoulders. He stood huddled near the center of the gathering where Germany and Prussia stood, having an argument in German, which he couldn't understand to the fullest.

"Es war deine Schuld, daß du nicht schnell genug rennst, damit wir sie einholen können! _(It was your fault for not running fast enough so that we could catch up with her!)_ " Ludwig was saying to his older brother, who looked just as worn out and broken as he was.

"Sie läuft schnell im Gegensatz zu jedem kleinen Land, das ich je getroffen habe ... Aber das ist nicht der Punkt, müssen wir Ashlyn finden! _(She runs fast unlike any small country I've ever met... But that's not the point, we need to find Ashlyn!)_ " Prussia countered back at his little brother, who stood a good a good one or two inches shorter than him.

Romano only recognized the word "Ashlyn" and spoke up. "What about Ashlyn? I can't-a understand anything you two potato-bastards say when-a you speak in your native tongue!"

Italy walked up next to his brother. "Ashlyn ran off to the South saying that she knew-a where Ivan was!"

Romano was infuriated, and it showed by how his curl bent a little. "And you-a didn't f***ing decide to run after her!? You goddamned bastards!"

"Calm down Romano, we did try, but we couldn't catch up with her. When Ashlyn has her mind set to something she sticks to it whether she's right or wrong." Germany sighed and took a slight step away from Romano, knowing how he gets when he's angry.

And was Romano _angry_. His golden eyes flamed as he yelled "YOU COULD'VE-A RUN FASTER YOU POTATO BASTARDS! DON'T TELL ME THAT EVEN FELICIANO COULDN'T-A CATCH UP!"

Both Germans took a look at each other, knowing that what Romano said was absolutely true. Gilbert then cleared his throat. "Anyways, we need to find her. We know that she went South, but we don't know how far South or how far East or West either. So we need to preferably split up into larger groups and track her down."

"I think that's best." Lukas, otherwise known as Norway, stated very blandly.

Mathias Køhler, known as Denmark, nudged Lukas in the ribs. "What do you say the five Nordics band together? It'll be just like old times!"

"Yeah, old times." Berwald Oxenstierna (Sweden) stated in a monotone voice.

"We need to hurry though," Matthew stated, "If she ended up turning around, the storm will still freeze her to death even if the storm has died down a little."

"That's my Maple Leaf." Matthew cringed as Francis ruffled his hair, causing it to stick up all over the place. "He's right though, we need to hurry."

Romano looked over to see Arthur standing some ways off to the side staring out the window, which was frozen with ice crystals. He walked over there, careful not to make too much sound to the point where it disrupted his thought. He waved his hand in his sight path, and when he didn't respond he spoke out. "Hey, scone bastard. You okay?"

England eventually snapped out of his trance. "Oh, sorry Lovino. I didn't see you there."

Romano stared hard at England. "You didn't notice me? I-a waved my hand in front of your-a goddamned face!"

Arthur looked to the ground. "Sorry…."

Romano sighed, "Anyways, what's wrong?"

England paused before speaking. "I don't want to lose Ireland."

Romano couldn't help but scoff. "Just two days ago you wanted to rip her throat out, now you want her back? What kind of-a 'big brother' are you?"

England squinted. "Well, you wanker I happened to raise Ireland so I might as well be her big brother or her father. Although I do know that she knows that I care on the inside and I want her to remember that I care for her. I just can't bear to lose her."

Romano couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for Arthur. "You do know that she's-a not dead right? She could very well-a be alive and kicking in the-a South and you and I both-a know it."

Arthur looked up and smiled just a little. "But even still, I'm a dying nation Romano. My Natural Increase Rate is depleting and we can't grow enough food. Soon enough we'll be using the greasy fast food that Alfred uses in his burgers in ours-" (there was a slight disruption as America let out a grunt of distress in the distance) "-anyways. I'm a dying nation and I don't want to feel anymore dead if Ashlyn turns out dead."

"But we don't normally die that easily. There's a certain amount of times we can be close to death until we actually die. Although, wouldn't she be replaced by someone who was her kin?"

"She doesn't have any kin though," England said. "If she dies it has to be a completely different person who takes her spot and the country itself goes into chaos." He paused and looked up at Romano, lowering his voice. "Can you promise me something?"

Romano was taken back. He never usually talked much to England and now he wanted him to make a promise? But Lovino did feel bad for the old country so he agreed to promise England something.

"Good, thank you. I know you're one of Ashlyn's closest friends and maybe even more-" (It was at this point that Romano flushed a deep tomato red) "-and I want you to promise me that if she does make it home that you'll take care of her for me please."

Romano shook his head, getting rid of the blush on his face. "Isn't that quite-a bit of a commitment though? I mean, I don't-a know if Ashlyn does like me that way… b-but I do know that I don't! Only as a friend!"

Arthur smiled and rolled his eyes casually. "Yeah sure, but I do want you to make that promise though, please?"

Lovino sighed. "Sure, I'll-a keep that promise for you."

England smiled. "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me."

.

Ashlyn woke up to something tickling her face. She cautiously opened her eyes to see that she was being tickled by a bright yellow thing that caused her to immediately sneeze. Sitting up, she looked around to see that she was still in the sunflower field, a giant divot in the spot next to her in which she knew that Ivan had slept.

"Bhuel ansin ... Cá ndeachaigh Ivan dul? _(Well then… Where did Ivan go?)_ " She spoke to herself as she stood up to get a better view of what was going on around her. She noticed that something was on the ground next to her. On closer inspection, it was her cell, which had 20 new messages as well as fourteen missed calls.

"Cac... _(shit…)_ " Ireland looked around, seeing that Ivan was a few paces behind her, heading her way with a giant armful of sunflowers.

"Looking for me, da?" Ivan said softly, handing as much of the flowers to Ashlyn as possible.

"I-I guess you could say that." Ashlyn took the flowers from his arms, some losing their petals and others falling down to her feet.

"Well I am here, sunflower! If you ever need anything, let me know."

"Why did you run?" Ashlyn looked up, her golden eyes locking with his violet ones.

Ivan broke eye contact and looked down to the ground where some of the sunflowers had fallen. "I felt bad, and I also felt that you wouldn't want to see me ever again as well as with the other countries. So I just ran away to a place where it gave me peace and tranquility."

"Are you sure that's just it?" Ashlyn pressed.

"Ah, you see right through me Ashlyn. I'm also having many issues with my country. I keep shrinking, you know? And if I keep shrinking, I won't become the greatest anymore, and soon… I'll be forgotten…."

Ashlyn looked up at Ivan to see that he was turned away, his scarf was blowing in the wind so that it hid his face from her. Being sympathetic and caring, but with her arms full of sunflowers, she just rested her forehead on his back, hoping that the tiny act of kindness would make him feel better in some way. The two nations stood that way, the wind blowing sunflower petals behind her.

Ivan eventually turned around and cupped Ashlyn's chin so that she looked up at the tall nation. "Spasibo, Eshlin. _(Thank you, Ashlyn.)_ "

Ashlyn only smiled and sat down, Ivan sitting down next to her. She began to pick some of the sunflowers from her arms and weave them together, making a string of flowers.

"What are you doing?" Ivan looked at the string that she was making.

"Making a necklace," Ashlyn somewhat lied. She was actually making a sunflower crown to put on top of Ivan's head. "Do you want to join me?"

"Net, spasibo. _(No, thank you.)_ I'll just watch." Ivan lay down next to Ashlyn on his side, watching her twist the stems of the flowers and tying them together. After about ten minutes he fell asleep, his head resting on his arm.

Ashlyn eventually finished her head crown, she placed it gently on Ivan's head so that she didn't wake him up. She chuckled silently to herself, just wondering what his reaction would be if she woke up. But then she _really_ thought about what he would think. _He might get mad at me like he did last time with me not "wanting to become one",_ she thought. Ashlyn then took the flower off of Ivan's head and put it on her own head, afraid of what he might think if she gave him one. After a while she began to think very deeply on whether or not Ivan was going to try what he did again. She shifted in her spot, hoping that what she was thinking wasn't true at all.

" _Ashlyn!"_

She turned her head to see which direction the voice had come from. Over the distance she managed to see Denmark running up the hill, Finland poking his head up behind him, the Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Denmark was making so much noise that Ivan woke up abruptly from his fifteen-minute nap, sitting up to see what the commotion was.

"Hej med dig! _(Hey there!)_ " Denmark stopped as soon as he saw Russia. "No need to get defensive big guy!"

"I wasn't." Russia stood up so that he stood much taller than Denmark, who coward and took a step back, bumping into both Iceland and Norway.

"It seems as if you are." Iceland poked his head out from behind Denmark's black cloak.

"But I-"

"Enough." Ashlyn stood up and stood between them, breaking up the childish argument. "It's about time we head back, Ceart? _(…right?)_ "

Finland nodded. "Yeah, and it's best if we go now. I'll call the others."

.

After getting back into the World summit/meeting room, Russia was interrogated while the other countries made sure that Ireland was fine, each of them ranting in their native language so that she couldn't understand what the hell was happening.

"Bist du ok? _(Are you okay?)_ " Prussia asked?

"Kare wa anata o kizutsukerudeshita ka? _(Did he hurt you?)_ " Japan asked.

"mondott megerőszakolt? _(Did he rape you?)_ " Hungary asked, but then got a quick scolding by Austria.

"Shut up please!" Ashlyn yelled. "English, dear god… _DO YOU SPEAK IT?!"_

Everyone went quiet afterwards. Feeling the tension, Romano stepped up. "Can I talk to you alone, ragazza?"

"Uh… sure?" Ashlyn got out of the chair in which she was sitting in and walked outside, where the storm had stopped and it was now cloudy, but a lot less cold than before.

"There's something I need to tell you. It's about your big brother."

"What?"

Romano seemed to have an extremely hard time getting this out. "H-he's a dying nation, ragazza. You're big brother is dying."


	10. Chapter 10

_**Let me step up this art contest a little. Now, it's still open until I release chapter 12, which will be anywhere from three days to a week or two, so keep your eyes peeled for new chapters. I'll go over the art contest rules one last time. I want a headshot of what you believe Ashlyn looks like with another canon character or your own OC if you'd like. The character that I think looks the best will be the cover page of my story and will have their OC featured in my story as it goes on down the road…**_

 _ ****BUT****_

 _ **I also do animations, and I'm looking for voice actors and co-animators for a YouTube series as well as a preview for the next part of this story (Hetalia: What Was Done). Whoever enters this art contest can send me a video at my google contact of theonesongwriter0. All I want in this video is your experience with animating, your knowledge of Hetalia, and your review on how the story is so far. The person who wins gets to be a co-animator and a voice actor if wanting.**_

 _ **I'm a beginner at animating and I'm being honest. I'm fourteen and I probably shouldn't have wathced Hetalia, but I watch the dubbed version (kill me pls), which cuts out most of the cussing. I use a program called "Pencil 2D", which is a frame-by-frame animation process, but I think it will be worth it in the meantime. If you know of a better program (preferably free) that I do not know of, let me know please.**_

 _ **Have a good day**_

 _ **.**_

"Wait, what?!"

Lovino sighed. "I wish what I said-a wasn't true, bella… but it is."

Ashlyn felt weak, leaning back against the World Summit building and leaned her head back, trying to take it all in. She felt like she was at fault, yet she knew that she really wasn't. Trying to work out plans in her head, she lost her train of thought when Romano put a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"I'm-a sorry, ragazza. I wish I could help."

"How do you know this?" Ashlyn's voice cracked as she spoke, looking up at Romano and staring into his amber eyes with the ferocity of one of America's pet eagles.

"Because the scone bastard had talked to me alone and made me promise something." Romano looked away as he blushed a little.

"W-what did he promise you?" By the way he was acting, Ashlyn almost didn't want to know.

"Ahem." Romano cleared his throat. "H-he made me promise to protect you if he leaves."

" _CAC! (SHIT!)_ I knew he would pull something like that I just knew it!" Ashlyn practically threw Romano off of her and started pacing.

"Whoa, bella. What's wrong?" Romano picked himself up and went after Ashlyn.

Ashlyn whipped around to face Romano, her eyes watering. Romano stopped and looked at her, both of them locking eyes for a few seconds before she continued. "He always does this when it's bad. If he forces another country to make a promise. He tried doing that with France a long, long time ago."

"So, he's telling the truth…"

Ashlyn nodded. "Is ea. _(Yes)_ I… I just…" She fell to her knees, her blonde hair covering her eyes. It was just too much to comprehend is such a short period of time. She felt as if it were her fault and that she was able to prevent it somehow. She clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white and her nails dug into her hands, which bled onto the ground.

She felt her hands being picked up off the ground and looked up to see Romano holding her hands and wiping the blood off of them. His face was a bit red as he did so, but Ashlyn found it a little cute.

"Calm down, ragazza. You and I both know that the Scone Bastard seems to be able to-a take care of himself." Lovino looked up at Ashlyn, their golden eyes meeting.

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right." Ashlyn broke eye-contact and looked at the ground, where there was the smallest of bloodstains on the ground in front of her. _Should I?_ She thought to herself.

Before she even had any time to do anything, Lovino wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She felt both her face and his face grow hot. Ashlyn eventually gave up and hugged him back, burying her head in his shoulder. Lovino only hugged her tighter to comfort her. Ashlyn unburied her head and rest her chin on his shoulder. When she opened her eyes, she saw Prussia standing outside the door staring at them.

"WEST! WEEESSSTT! YOU HAVE TO COME SEE THIS!" Gilbert screamed and ran inside to grab his little brother.

Both Lovino and Ashlyn pushed off of each other. Falling to the ground in laughter as well as embarrassment, both of them laughing as well as blushing really red in the process. They each got up and ran inside, temporarily dismissing the depressing fact about Arthur for a few moments.

That is until they got inside.

.

As Romano and Ashlyn had gone outside, Arthur knew what Lovino was going to tell her. He almost got up to interrupt them, but he almost fell over when he felt a pain in his right leg. His bright green eyes scanned the room frantically to see if any of the other countries had seen his spasm of pain. When he assumed the coast was clear, he then sat down, looking on as the other countries investigated Russia. He also watched as Prussia snuck out to see what the two of them were doing, but he focused back on the other countries antagonizing Russia.

"What were you two doing?" Korea pointed a finger at his chest, and he was probably the only one in the room with the balls to do that.

"I wasn't doing anything. I took a nap, then she found me and I woke up. She then fell asleep and I went off to pick sunflowers." Ivan's voice depleted as he continued on, each country making weird looks at each other, not believing him.

"What caused you to run away, aru?" China walked up from behind Korea, shoving him off to the side.

"I'd rather not discuss that, da?" Ivan said with a remarkably cheerful voice, but everyone could see a dark aura slowly forming around him as he became more and more annoyed.

 _It's amazing how calm he looks but on the inside we all know he's twisted up,_ Arthur thought. He elevated his leg onto the chair beside him, which instantly caused a pain in his spine, which then caused him to freeze as if he couldn't move.

America looked over and saw that Britain wasn't looking right, and that he had an odd expression on his face. "Dude, England, you okay?"

Arthur looked right and tried his best to straighten his posture up, but slightly winced in pain as he did so. He only smiled slightly. "Yeah I'm fine."

"Dude, you never smile at me…" Alfred walked over and pulled out the chair that Arthur's foot was on, not realizing it was there.

When his foot was sent falling to the floor, the pain went from Arthur's leg straight to his back. He jumped and cringed in pain, falling onto the table. With the sudden imbalance of weight, the table tipped, sending him to the floor in a huge racket. He instantly curled up and sat there while the other countries noticed and abandoned Ivan to take a look at England.

"G-go away… God-d-damn wankers…." England murmured as he pushed various hands away from him.

"You're not fine!" Alfred countered back at the Englishman, who looked up at him, then looked away. "You aren't fine damn it! You and I both know it! Does lying on the ground not being able to move fine?!"

Arthur looked at his little brother, knowing he was right. "I-I need to rest… just leave me here…."

"No!" Alfred was practically screaming now. "We need to take you to a hospital!"

"A-Al-"

"WEST! WEEESSSTT! YOU HAVE TO COME SEE THIS!" Gilbert screamed as he ran back into the doorway, but stopped as he saw what was happening. Everyone remained silent as they heard the running footsteps of Lovino and Ashlyn as well as their giggles as they turned the corner. As Ashlyn turned the corner, she stopped, causing Lovino to run into her from behind.

There was a very odd silence as Ashlyn stood there, trying to see what was in the center of their circle.

England struggled to sit up as he looked over Denmark's hair. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but do you still have a copy of my car keys in your pocket?"


	11. Author's Note

I apologize for the horrid amount of inactivity. I have been busy in the hospital as well as with school... and we all know how that is... (or some of us at least) A new chapter will be posted sometime wither the weekend or the beginning of next week. Again, I apologize for the inactivity!


	12. Final Note

**_Hello again…_**

 ** _I apologize for the inactivity, although this story is sadly going to be discontinued._**

 ** _When my friend originally began this story I didn't realize how much of a Mary Sue the character was, and reading back through the story it's cliché and very much tell-tale on who gets the girl, and after a while my motivation to continue the story has diminished._** **** ** _Ireland has been in the works by me and with other friends and she's fully complete, so that'll be on Tumblr._**

 ** _While this story is being discontinued, I'm working on another Hetalia fanfiction based off of the Se7en Deadly Sins and also an Original Project called "Missed" Which will be on Wattpad. My username for Wattpad is _That_Born_Artist_. The Se7en Deadly Sins Fanfic will be on though._**

 ** _I hope you guys have a good day, and sorry for the inconvenience._**


End file.
